A promising route for the production of biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters, FAMES) via transesterification of soybean oil (SBO) and poultry fat with methanol in quantitative conversions at room temperature has been developed using nanocrystalline calcium oxides as catalysts. Under the same conditions, laboratory-grade CaO gave only 2% conversion in the case of SBO, and there was no observable reaction with poultry fat. The soybean oil/methanol ratio in our protocol is 1:27. With our most active catalyst, deactivation was observed after eight cycles with SBO and after three cycles with poultry fat. Deactivation may be associated with one or more of the following factors:  the presence of organic impurities or adventitious moisture and enolate formation by the deprotonation of the carbon alpha to the carboxy group in the triglyceride or FAMES. The biodiesel from our protocol meets the ASTM D-874 standard for sulfated ash for both substrates.

Better sources of drying oils for coatings and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) for potential health benefits are of continuing interest. Iodine under photochemical conditions in hexanesB at reflux temperatures was investigated as a catalyst for conjugating soybean oil (SBO) for use as drying oils and as a potential source of CLA. Variations in catalyst loading, SBO, light source, free radical catalyst, solvent and temperature strongly affected the efficiency of the process. Changes in fatty acid isomer distributions in conjugated SBO (CSBO) influenced drying properties of CSBO. Conjugated dienes formed were predominantly trans‐9,trans‐11, which contrasts distributions found with catalysts such as strong base and metal compounds. Drying times of some of the CSBOs were superior to that of raw linseed oil. Iodine was partially recovered.

Bicyclic P(CH2NMe)3P was synthesized, and its reactions with MnO2, elemental sulfur, p-toluenesulfonyl azide, BH3.THF, and W(CO)5(THF) were shown to furnish a variety of products in which the PC3 and/or the PN3 phosphorus are oxidized/coordinated. In contrast, reactions of the previously known P(CH2NPh)3P with Mo(0) and Ru(II) precursors were shown to afford products in which only the PC3 phosphorus is coordinated. The contrast in reactivity of P(CH2NR)3P (R = Me, Ph) with the aforementioned reagents is discussed in terms of steric and electronic factors. The new compounds are characterized by analytical and spectroscopic (IR, 1H, 31P, and 13C NMR) methods. The results of crystal and molecular structure X-ray analyses of the previously known compounds P(CH2O)3P and P(CH2NPh)3P and 6 of the 14 new compounds obtained in this investigation are presented. Salient features of these structures and the analysis of the Tolman cone angles calculated from their structural parameters are discussed in terms of the effects of constraint in the bicyclic moieties. Evidence is presented for greater M-P sigma bonding effects on coordination of the PC3 phosphorus of P(CH2NR)3P (R = Me, Ph) than are present in PMe3 analogues of group 6B metal carbonyls. From 1JBP data on the BH3 adducts of P(CH2NMe)3P, it is suggested that the free bases MeC(CH2NMe)3P < P(CH2NMe)3P < (Me2N)3P < P(MeNCH2CH2)3N increase in Lewis basicity at the PN3 phosphorus in the order shown. Substantial differences in 31P chemical shifts in the bicyclic compounds discussed herein relative to their acyclic analogues do not seem to be associated with the relatively small bond angle changes that occur around either the PN3 or the PC3 trivalent phosphorus atoms.

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